Foxconn plans to assemble Apple's iPad in Brazil by end of November
Foxconn, which assembles iPhones and iPads for Apple, is said by Brazil's president to be considering the $12 billion commitment toward new facilities, according to Retuers. President Dilma Rousseff said in a visit to Beijing that the Brazilian government is reviewing Foxconn's proposed plans.
Separately, Brazil's science and technology minister also said that Foxconn plans to begin assembling Apple's iPad at plants in Brazil by the end of November. The assembly would apparently take place at existing facilities, and would not be a part of the proposed $12 billion investment.
However, since Apple is a major partner of Foxconn, any investment from Foxconn in Brazil would likely have a future impact on the assembly of Apple products.
Talk of Apple products being assembled in Brazil gained traction late last year, when the eighth richest man in the world attempted to convince the iPad maker to assemble its products in the South American country. Eike Batista was looking to court businesses like Apple to fill in 90 square miles of space at the Port of Acu.
Foxconn's assembly factories in China have been the subject of much criticism, and Apple was even forced to make a public statement last year after a number of suicides occurred at the main Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, China.
Apple conducts an annual audit of its overseas partners and their factories. This year, that audit found one facility in the Far East that employed 42 underage workers, prompting Apple to terminate business with the facility.
53 Comments
Interesting. I wonder what the average cost to manufacture and assemble in Brazil versus China would be... Surely Brazil is not cheaper in this respect. Maybe this is being done to avoid import tariffs, or because the Brazilians are offering partial or full ownership of the facility in exchange for the move? The last piece of the puzzle for Apple is to own the manufacturing process.
Interesting. I wonder what the average cost to manufacture and assemble in Brazil versus China would be... Surely Brazil is not cheaper in this respect. Maybe this is being done to avoid import tariffs, or because the Brazilians are offering partial or full ownership of the facility in exchange for the move? The last piece of the puzzle for Apple is to own the manufacturing process.
I seem to recall reading something about a Brazilian billionaire trying to entice manufacturing of Apple gear there a few months back.
I seem to recall reading something about a Brazilian billionaire trying to entice manufacturing of Apple gear there a few months back.
Eike Batista mentioned in this article.
I hope it happens since there is a huge underage worker problem in Brasil, mostly in agriculture but since Apple has a very low tolerance for such practices it may begin to decrease the prevalence in other industries as well.
Asia, South America, Africa, Eastern Europe, ... I don't really care where they build it but they need another factory since iPad orders are still backlogged.
Interesting. I wonder what the average cost to manufacture and assemble in Brazil versus China would be... Surely Brazil is not cheaper in this respect. Maybe this is being done to avoid import tariffs, or because the Brazilians are offering partial or full ownership of the facility in exchange for the move? The last piece of the puzzle for Apple is to own the manufacturing process.
Probably a combo of shipping costs, tariffs, perhaps also cuts offered to bring in jobs and simply just spreading things out to avoid another tsunami etc screwing with all their business by cutting off outgoing shipments from the area.